University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag
January 22, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2008
By Adam Lucas
We fans love it when after a rebound (or even better after a made shot) Lawson runs the ball all the way for a layup. I am wondering: does he have the green light to go to the rim whenever he feels the advantage or only under certain circumstances? For example, I was in Chapel Hill over the holidays and saw the Kent State game. At one point Lawson got the ball just as Hansbrough put his fist in the air, and there were already two Heels at the scorer's table waiting to come in. On this possession he took it all the way, and I was wondering if he had considered that, with three fatigued players on the floor, his speed was our best scoring option. Alternatively, with four fresh teammates, is he more likely to run the offense as usual?
Andrew Davis
Jerusalem, Israel
Since there's no Tar Heel Sports Network affiliate in Jerusalem, this seemed like a good question to answer in the print version rather than radio version of the Mailbag.
Lawson has continued to improve his grasp of the Carolina offense. Last year, he had just four games of more than 15 points; this year, he already has seven. Many of those points, as Andrew noted, have come by simply beating the other team down the floor. Ideally, you'd like for him to be aware of the stamina of his four teammates on the floor, but sometimes the game moves so quickly that's not always possible. And, there's even an argument to be made that he should try to go to the basket more with tired teammates than well-rested teammates.
Whatever the endurance of his teammates, Lawson makes it look easy. There's actually a science to it. Roy Williams has spoken to Lawson about understanding how to use opponents as obstacles. When the point guard sees a slow-moving opposing big man with his back to him, he's likely to use that player as an unintended moving screen on his way to the hoop.
Perhaps more than any team this season, Maryland did a terrific job of getting back on defense and preventing those types of opportunities. The most insightful part of Saturday's postgame came from Gary Williams: "That was our goal," he said. "I think Carolina runs the best transition in the country. If we were going to get beaten, we said they were going to have to do it in the halfcourt offense. Vasquez is a very smart player in terms of knowing how close he can get to somebody with Lawson's quickness. Greives is 6-5 so he can probably get off of him a little further than some people can. We gave him backup. It was like token fullcourt man pressure after we scored. If we missed, we tried to run everyone to the paint as fast as we could so we could take away his driving angles."
Expect to see other teams try to mirror that approach. Of course, not many teams have a point guard like Vasquez, and not many teams are willing to show that commitment to getting back for a full 40 minutes.
Conversely, and also for the first time all season, Carolina was poor at getting back on defense. On at least six occasions, the Terps simply beat the Tar Heels down the court, leading to either an easy basket or a foul. A lot of attention will be given to Maryland's 46.9% field goal mark; it's important to note how they got some of those shots. Defense isn't just about contesting shots. In most cases, by the time the shot goes up, it's too late. The time to play defense is early in the shot clock when you have the opportunity to force the opponent into doing something uncomfortable.
It seems to me that Tyler still isn't great at passing out of the double team, it seems to be all or nothing with him in the post. Either score over 3 people, walk, or get fouled. I know the 05 team hit their stride when May started playing out of his mind and part of that was him stepping away from the double and finding Williams and McCants with the skip pass. Just wanted to know if ya'll have any insight as to how much time or energy the coach's seem to put into talking to Tyler about that. I know a few times last week the other post was open or one of the wing players was open at the opposite elbow. The guy is a great player and I may just be a little critical but hey, I couldn't get out of bed for 2 days after the Georgetown game. I just want some insight to make me sleep better.
William Washington
Hopefully you'll take this the right way, but even Roy Williams got out of bed the day after the Georgetown game. If Tar Heel losses are leaving you bedridden there's a chance you might want to take a deep breath.
But I definitely want you to remain mobile during the remainder of the 2008 season. Based on the mail volume, it seems fans have noticed some holes in Tyler Hansbrough's game. That's what fans do after a loss, even when the player in question is a two-time All-America and National Player of the Year candidate. After all, people even gripe about the Mona Lisa (it's surprisingly small in person, and I heard she can't pass out of a double team either).
There are two issues here: first, Hansbrough's passing out of a double team. Gary Williams mentioned that Maryland's primary intention was to double Hansbrough with the man guarding Marcus Ginyard. But Ginyard soon rendered that plan useless by hitting a couple of three-pointers. That's the easiest way to make a team pay for double-teams. As Roy Williams has noted, another way is to have great spacing in the halfcourt offense, and there have been times this year where the Tar Heels have not always had that kind of spacing. It's pretty simple, really--when the offense is bunched, they're making it easier for the defense to cover them. When the offense is spread out and the defense chooses to put two men on one player, there's someone open somewhere.
When a double-team comes to most players in America, their first reaction is obvious--find the open man. Hansbrough is different, because even with two men on him, he still thinks he can score. There's a good reason for that--he usually does score. In fact, he scored over a double team with less than a minute left against Maryland to tie the score at 80. This is simply part of Hansbrough's makeup and it's part of his game fans need to accept. For example, Ed Cota sure was a great passer...but sometimes he passed at the expense of looking for his own offense. Hansbrough's focus and desire make him one of the best players to ever wear the uniform...but sometimes that focus limits what he sees on the court. I absolutely believe that if the Tar Heel coaches wanted to spend a month focusing on telling Hansbrough to pass, he could probably make himself into the best passing big man to ever play at Carolina. He has that kind of dedication. This summer, when Jonas Sahratian introduced Danneyball to his team, Hansbrough was the worst player on the first day. By the last day, he was the best. Making him into a passer would be like trying to trying to convert Derrick Phelps into a scoring point guard--it's not utilizing his very best skills. He's currently averaging approximately one assist per game, which is in line with his career numbers.
There's another issue here, though. Carolina has to get Hansbrough the ball. Saturday's postgame story mentioned UNC's shot selection in the final minutes of the Maryland loss. Here's an even more gaudy stat: over the last 10 minutes of the game, the Tar Heels had 23 possessions (counting them using the Dean Smith method). Hansbrough got exactly four touches inside 15 feet on those 23 possessions. He scored five points and drew two fouls on those four touches.
It's pretty simple: that's not enough touches. If he'd gotten eight touches instead of four, there's a chance he might have committed a couple of turnovers after being double-teamed. But that's a chance I'll take, because I'm betting he also would have found a way to wriggle free for a couple more baskets.
Contrast Carolina's halfcourt execution to Maryland; at almost every big juncture in the game, the Terps went down low to big Bambale Osby, who sealed his man and scored in the paint on several important possessions, including the game-winner.
Is it my imagination or is it reality-that year after year, it always seems to be Maryland who, more than any other ACC opponent seems to play best in the paint against the Heels, is most aggressive and goes to the Free Throw line frequently. Which opponent this year has been most successful at the free throw line-in terms of attempts and percentage? I would also be interested to know if Maryland has been one of the more successful ACC opponents to win AT Chapel Hill over the years.
Bill Pekari
Madison, Wisconsin
It's not your imagination and this is a really good question. Gary Williams wants his team to play with the kind of aggressiveness Bill mentioned. I'd say that Maryland and Boston College are consistently the most dedicated to running their offense and defense against Carolina; Georgia Tech is probably the most consistently physical, but that's a little different from being aggressive.
The Terrapins now have eight wins at the Smith Center, including the first-ever Carolina defeat in the building, a 77-72 Maryland win in 1986 that fans who saw will simply remember as, "The Len Bias Game." That's the second-most wins for an ACC school at the Smith Center (Duke has 9), easily outdistancing NC State's five. Five of Maryland's Chapel Hill wins have come against a UNC team ranked in the top five in the nation, and two of them have come against a top-ranked Carolina team (There's more information on how top-ranked Carolina teams have fared at home in the Tuesday Talking Points).
The Terps shot 20 free throws on Saturday, making 16 of them. Somewhat surprisingly, that's just tied for the fifth-most attempts by an opponent this season. Clemson leads the way with 27, followed by Rutgers (26), South Carolina State (22), Kentucky (22), and Iona (20). However, Maryland's 16 three-point attempts are the second-lowest figure among those six opponents (South Carolina State shot just 11). Nearly 20 percent of Maryland's points came from the free throw line, easily the best figure by an ACC opponent this season. So it's reasonable to say the Terps did a better job of getting to the foul line--and then converting the shots, which as we know is easier said than done--than any other league foe so far this year.
Brownlow's Down Low
There's been a trend I've noticed recently; it seems that when a UNC game is aired on ABC, they lose. Last year the Virginia Tech game was on ABC and also, the Wake game back in 2005. I was wondering if you knew Carolina's winning percentage on each television station?
Uno Nieeban
urlington
Lauren writes:
Credit also goes to Max Gongaware from Raleigh for pointing out that the last three times the Tar Heels have played 3:30 games on ABC, they have lost. Since the 1999-00 season, Carolina has played 15 games on ABC and have a 7-8 record in that span. (All records listed below will be from the 1999-00 season on.) Carolina is 1-6 in the 3:30 slot on the ABC network. In the last three seasons, Carolina is 0-3 on ABC and all games have been the 3:30 game - at Virginia Tech and at NC State last season and the home loss to Maryland this season. Carolina's lone win in the 3:30 ABC slot was against Maryland in 2004 in Chapel Hill. Carolina played Duke three consecutive years - 2000, 2001 and 2002 - on ABC at 3:30, losing all three times. The 2005 loss at Wake Forest actually came at 1:30 on ABC, not 3:30.Carolina has a 29-11 (.725) record on CBS (including NCAA Tournament games) and a 13-6 record in regular season games only on CBS. Carolina's record on ESPN since 2000 is 50-25 (.667), including 18-0 in the last two seasons. Carolina is also 8-0 on ESPNU and played four games on the network this season. The only ESPN affiliate that has not been lucky for the Tar Heels is ESPN2 - Carolina has a 23-16 (.590) record on that channel, including a 1-2 record last season. The Tar Heels are 4-0 on ESPN2 this season and with the exception of a 3-0 season on ESPN2 in 2005 Carolina has never gone the whole season without at least one loss. Since 1999-00, Carolina is 51-32 (.614) in games shown on Raycom. The Tar Heels have yet to have a Raycom game this season and they went 7-2 last season. Carolina has an excellent winning percentage on Fox Sports channels, going 30-9 since the 2001 season. Carolina had a 4-1 record on Fox last season and is 3-0 this season.
In the Roy Williams era, Carolina has not lost a game that began at 1:00 (13-0). Carolina is 19-4 in 1:00 games since 2000. Roy Williams is 9-3 in noon games and Carolina is 11-6 since the 2000 season. In 1:30 games, Carolina is 9-4 but the 2005 team had quite a bit of trouble in the 1:30 slot, going 0-2. It's interesting to note that Carolina is 5-1 in games that begin at 3:00, but 3-7 in games beginning at 3:30 including 0-3 in the last two seasons. The Tar Heels have struggled at 4:00, going 8-10 since 2000. In games starting between 5:00 and 5:30, Carolina is 5-4, including a 5:15 loss to Georgetown last season.
Carolina is 39-12 in games that tip at 7:00 (.764), including a 12-0 record in the last two seasons. The Tar Heels are also 10-4 in 7:30 tip-offs. The 8:00 time slot appears to be especially friendly for Carolina, as the Tar Heels have a 23-4 record (.852) since 2000. The Tar Heels don't do as well at 9:00, going 32-21 (60.4) since 2000 in that time slot, including a loss at Santa Clara in 2005, three losses in 2006 (all at home) and one loss in 2007 (at Georgia Tech). Carolina is 3-1 in 9:15 starts and 4-2 in 9:30 starts. Carolina is a combined 7-1 in games that start at 10:00 or 10:30.
Carolina has not played many Monday games since 2000, but thanks to the national title game the Tar Heels sport a 7-0 record on Monday. They have not played on that date since. The Tar Heels since 2000 are 21-9 (.700) on Tuesday. Roy Williams' teams are 12-5. Carolina is 39-19 (.672) on Wednesday, including a combined 15-1 in the last two seasons. The Tar Heels are 14-7 (.667) on Thursday and 20-7 (.741) on Friday since 2000.
As some have already noticed, Saturday has not been as kind to Carolina. Since the 1999-00 season, Carolina is 46-29 (.613) on that day. In the last two seasons, Carolina is 13-3 in that span - but Carolina has also lost just eight games in the last two seasons. The Tar Heels were 6-2 on that day in 2005 and 6-2 in 2006 as well, accounting for half the 2005 team's losses and a quarter of the 2006 team's defeats. Sunday has actually been fairly kind to Carolina by comparison - since 2000, Carolina is 42-14 (.750) on Sunday. Carolina was 5-2 on Sunday last season, including the NCAA Tournament loss. Carolina is 4-0 on Sunday this season. The 2006 team was 4-1 on Sunday. The 2004 and 2005 teams combined to go 15-0 on Sunday, including a 9-0 record by the 2005 team. The 2002 team won just eight games all season and five of those wins came on Sunday.
Thanks again to Max and Uno for allowing me to do something to take my mind off of Carolina's most recent loss.
Adam Lucas most recently collaborated on a behind-the-scenes look at Carolina Basketball with Wes Miller. The Road To Blue Heaven is available now. Lucas's other books on Carolina basketball include The Best Game Ever, which chronicles the 1957 national championship season, Going Home Again, which focuses on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.
